Liz86000- i think you're confusing this with another story, Meredith didn't have cancer, i doubt a baby would survive that. first chapter explains that. and Rose already knew about the baby, she and Derek broke up. second chapter has that.

thanks for all the reviews, enjoy this chapter

About a month and a half later, in Meredith's seventh month, she was in the ER, hanging about for something good to come up. Her interns were standing annoyingly close and she, more irritable than normal, was about to yell at them to go do some damn sutures when she got paged to go meet an incoming trauma.

"At last" she breathed a sigh of relief, this boredom was getting too much.

"We've got an incoming" she told her interns and they grabbed some sterile tunics and ran to meet the ambulance.

"What have we got?" she asked as the doors opened up and they came out with a guy on a stretcher

"Possible head trauma, a drunk…he fell off a wall"

"A wall? What was he doing there?"

"Trying to get into his garden…got locked out…he's only told us his first name, Jack"

Meredith sighed, she hated drunk patients.

"Right, let's get him into an exam room" she told her interns as they put the spluttering man onto a gurney

They wheeled him down the corridor and she started quizzing them on what they should be looking out for.

As soon as they were in an exam room, she started to assess him but he wasn't having it.

"Get off me" he mumbled and tried to sit up.

"Jack, we've got to check you over" she told him, "Can you lie back for me, please?" and she gently pushed him back
"No, get off me" he said more forcefully

"Jack…"

"No!" he yelled and he pushed her hands off him

She looked at one of her interns, "Get me some restraints"
Hearing this, Jack leapt up and crashed into her, sending her to the floor. She hit her head on the wall and everything went black.

XXX

Staring at her in the hospital bed, he couldn't believe he thought he might have lost her. Thankfully the injury to her head was very minor and she should wake up soon. They had got an OB-GYN to look at the baby. "He seems Ok now but we should wait and see…sometimes these things only appear later"

Wait and see. Great. That calmed his nerves down….not.

He took her hand and rubbed the back of it. Wake up, wake up, he said to her in his mind.

As if she had heard him, she murmured and turned to face him, opening her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked

"You fell and hit your head…something about a drunk patient" he told her softly

"Jack" she whispered and then realised, "How's the baby?" she asked, panicking

"He's Ok for now" he replied, "Dr Cole says we have to "wait and see"…not exactly helpful for peace of mind"

"No" she whispered

He stood up from the chair that he had placed close to her bed and moved even closer. Placing a small kiss on her forehead, he inhaled her scent and then crouched down.

"I got scared I'd lost you" he told her, a small smile on his face, "I'm so glad you're Ok"

She smiled back

"Meredith" he began softly, "When I was staring at you, waiting for you to wake up, I thought about how scared I was when I got that page…your fall only caused a minor injury but before I knew that I was terrified…and as I watched you, I thought about how much there is for us to do and how much we would have missed out on if you had…if you had something more serious…something fatal…I wouldn't have had the chance to propose, to call you my fiancée, to stand up in front of our friends and marry you, to call you my wife, Mrs Shepherd, Dr Shepherd or refer to you as the mother of my child or children…and that scared me…the thought of possibly missing out on that…but knowing you're going to be Ok…it makes me want to make sure that doesn't happen, that I don't miss out on that…" he changed his position so he was on one knee, "Marry me" he told her, "And I promise I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you make me"

She smiled, "Derek…" she whispered, and she tugged on his hand so that he stood up and pulled him close to her, "I love you"

"I love you too"

"And I am not saying no…please note that…I just need sometime to think about taking this step, this huge step, before saying yes…Ok?...But I am not in the slightest saying no"

He looked into her eyes and saw the intensity in which she stressed that she was not saying no…he saw how much she cared for him and also how this step was scaring her. He thought back to the girl who had to fight not to run away when he told her he wanted to marry her only a year ago and he realised that he couldn't be angry for her needing to think about this, in fact it made him love her more for being so honest and for wanting to give it thought before rushing ahead with something that she might not be ready for.

"Thank you…thank you for thinking about it…thank you for not saying no" he told her and stroked her head gently, "When you are ready to say yes, I'll be here"

"Thank you" she whispered

He leant down and kissed her. "How's our boy doing?" he asked

Meredith bit her lip and put her hand to her stomach. "He feels Ok at the moment but I'm still worried"

"Me too" he said and put his hand on top of hers

XXX

He got pizza and brought it in for them to eat instead of hospital food. She laughed when he came in. "What a nice surprise" she said.

Sitting next to her on the bed, eating Chinese, he felt at peace. They talked about all sorts of things, things they had both been too tired to talk about in the past couple of months. He felt like on some level they were still reconnecting and it was nice.

It was when he was clearing away the box that she suddenly let out a scream. He turned round immediately and ran to her bed. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach and she let out "The baby" before screaming again. He lifted the blanket and saw all the blood.

"Nurse, page Dr Cole, stat" he yelled

Almost immediately doctors and nurses were swarming around her and she was still screaming in agony.

"Let's get her to the OR" Dr Cole said, "We're either going to stop this or have an early delivery"

They began to undo all the plugs and wires that would hold her back and she grabbed his hand, "Yes, Derek" she told him, her voice firm, "I will marry you"

"Really?" The fear he had been feeling was now inter-mingled with joy at hearing her say that

They began to wheel the bed away but she ordered them to stop, "I'm your fiancée" she told him

"You're my fiancée" he agreed

"Now you've had a chance to say it" she told him as they started to wheel her away.